Does tapping an opponents monster allow them to activate that cards active tap?
Asked by RyanasaurusRekt 9 years ago
Say I cast Twiddle on one of the opponent's creatures, say Elvish Mystic, would he still gain the mana?
nobu_the_bard says... #2
In the given example, you'd probably generally be better off using Twiddle with the intent to tap the Mystic so he can't be used as a blocker. It depends on the board state of course.
EDIT: Sorry for the double post, I didn't notice the new edit buttons before now! :)
July 1, 2015 1:05 p.m. Edited.
RyanasaurusRekt says... #3
yeah that was kinda a poopy card example, say I use it on a Scattershot Archer?
July 1, 2015 1:12 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #4
The principle is the same. Unless otherwise specified, you may activate an ability at any time you have priority. Your opponent could simply activate the ability in response to your spell. If he or she doesn't, however, then you'll tap the creature and your opponent won't be able to activate any of its tap abilities until it untaps.
July 1, 2015 1:24 p.m.
Were you asking if you tapping the creature caused the ability to be activated? Because that never happens.
If you Twiddled your opponent's Scattershot Archer, and your opponent didn't activate the ability in response (let's say because they couldn't since it came into play during their last turn and didn't have haste), then the act of Twiddle tapping it wouldn't cause 1 damage to be dealt to each creature with flying.
nobu_the_bard says... Accepted answer #1
First, they're generally referred to as creatures. They have the creature type and can have creature subtypes, etc.
In order to pay the cost to use his ability, Elvish Mystic needs to be untapped, and needs to have either haste or been on his controller's field since the beginning for that player's turn. You could cast Twiddle on him before he can use his ability but there's not much point.
If you want to deny his activation, you can attempt to force him to be tapped with something like Twiddle; however, creature abilities are at instant speed, which means your opponent can respond by activating the ability and getting its benefit BEFORE Twiddle taps him. In the case of Elvish Mystic, you could do this to mess up his timing (ie. force him to choose to either allow the creature to be tapped or use the ability during his owner's upkeep, when the mana can't generally be spent on "slow" spells like creatures, artifacts, etc).
July 1, 2015 1:03 p.m.